Bump in the Night
by SkyChasingDreamer
Summary: A young girl is dead and Gintoki has been hired to hunt down the prime suspect. He'd just expected there to be a lot less fur... and teeth. HijiGinHiji. Canon-verse.


**Title**: Bump in the Night

**Pairing**: HijiGinHiji

**Rating**: T to NC17

**Disclaimer**: No

**Bump in the Night**

Gintoki was on the run.

It wasn't like he was running from an unpaid bill or running to get out of paying rent, he was actually _running_. He was _working_ and under so much exertion that he was sweating and bleeding and the worst of it was that he didn't even know what he was up against. His cut was on his leg, he'd scraped it pretty good trying to hunt this thing, whatever it was, down. He'd only caught glimpses so far, dark shadows, things like that. He'd see movement out of the corner of his eye, but by the time he turned, there was nothing there.

He was on a job, one that he'd thought would be simple. For the last few months there had been reports of an Amanto causing trouble from time to time, breaking things, wounding and scaring people, relatively harmless, mostly. It wasn't until someone turned up dead that Gintoki got called in to deal with the problem, but the real problem was that he couldn't figure out exactly what he was after. The person on the phone had been vague in terms of details and Gintoki hadn't thought much of it at the time. He'd figured it was another one of Prince Baka's escaped pets, but so far he had heard no yodeling to announce the Prince's arrival and whatever was in this building with him wasn't any kind of goddamn pet.

The building he was in was abandoned and mostly used for storage – go figure that the lights were out except for one dingy little emergency light in the center of the room. There were boxes and crates everywhere and Gintoki had spent the better part of an hour running through the place. It was a maze and whatever was in there with him knew its way around. Gintoki had tracked it all night and it was either very bad luck or some kind of terrible plot that he'd ended up in a place where he couldn't see well and wasn't familiar with.

The dark blob Gintoki was getting sick of seeing flashed by on his right and he went after it. It was so _annoying_ that he wasn't under attack, he was just running in circles. He'd say the thing was frightened, except he didn't get that feeling. He had an odd feeling about this, his instincts were telling him he needed to be careful, but not that he was in immediate danger. The Amanto hadn't tried to escape the building and though it could easily brake a window and bolt, it didn't. If anything, Gintoki was more pissed off at having to work so hard than the situation itself, no one liked running in circles all night.

Rounding a set of crates for probably the hundredth time, he saw the blur, heard a familiar growl, and the figure was gone again. Gintoki wanted to smash his face into one of the crates and yell. He could have killed the thing already, he'd had plenty of chances, but he didn't want to strike a killing blow until he knew for certain that this was the thing that had been causing so much trouble. He didn't want to uselessly kill it, what if he was wrong?

Across the warehouse, he heard a crash and ran to it, ready just in case the Amanto finally jumped at him. He was so used to the Amanto being ahead of him and out of his reach that it was a genuine surprise when he spun around the edge and bowled the thing right over. Like, he _slammed_ into it and the force was enough to send them both to the ground.

Gintoki could not have expected this.

There was no way he could have seen this coming.

He watched, unblinking, as this massive form of fur and teeth, a wolf if Gintoki ever saw one, shuddered and contorted. He'd seen some strange things in his lifetime, he'd even had a screwdriver for a dick, but this was... different, even for him. Fur fell away, paws turned into hands, bones snapped and cracked, and eventually, a human formed.

Gintoki could not have expected this, either.

"_You_?"

Hijikata was panting so hard he could barely speak and he wasn't moving, so Gintoki did the first thing that came to him and took off his yukata. He carefully draped it over Hijikata's body to cover him up, all while staying low to the ground, his hands feeling numb. He kept his movements slow so as not to startle him, he had no idea what was going on, but he felt it prudent to not let his guard down. But then it occurred to him that Hijikata could probably sense how high strung he was, how taut and ready to strike, and he didn't see how his being uneasy would help this situation. Taking a deep breath, he sat back on his ass and kept his bokken in his sights, but out of his reach.

"Surprise," Hijikata muttered, wincing as he sat up and tied the yukata around himself.

"Is this... some kind of joke?"

"I wish."

Gintoki could feel himself starting to get a headache as he wiped some sweat off his brow. "Oi. Oi, oi, oi! What the hell is goin' on, Mayora?"

"It's," Hijikata ran a hand through his hair, he looked exhausted, "a long story."

"Wait... _wait_, are you the one that has been causing all the disturbances?"

"Yes and no, it's why I c-called you."

"But that wasn't your voice on the phone."

Hijikata gave him a baleful look. "I used somethin' to alter it."

"Why?"

"'Cause," his face went red and Gintoki eyed him as he moved closer, "hirin' you was the only thing I could think to do! I've done a lot of things, Yorozuya, but I did _not_ kill that girl!"

Gintoki studied him – he was still moving closer, why was he still moving closer? – and he didn't need to think about it long, he'd believed Hijikata right when he said the words. Hijikata was many, many things, but a killer of young girls? Never. Even if he lost control and did it on accident, there would be regret and a deep set pain that Hijikata wouldn't be able to hide if he tried.

Hijikata kept coming closer and closer, little by little, and Gintoki didn't move away. He didn't feel threatened, Hijikata wasn't in an offensive stance and was actually now seated between Gintoki's legs. That was odd. This whole thing was odd.

"You're a werewolf," Gintoki blurted and almost felt bad when Hijikata flinched like he'd been struck.

"Y-yeah. Like I said, long story."

"Right... okay... but is there something else I should know?"

Hijikata's pupils got slightly bigger and he tilted his head to the right just a little. "What're you talkin' about?"

Gintoki poked his chest to gently push him back, he didn't know why Hijikata kept moving so close to him. "Maybe it's nothing... never mind. So, okay, I gotta ask – how in the hell did you get, ah... bitten?"

"Can we not do this now?" Hijikata snapped and Gintoki could have sworn those canines were longer than normal. "I hired you, so get me outta here and I'll tell you more once you get me somethin' to eat!"

"Where the hell am I supposed to take you?"

"Someplace safe," Hijikata shoulders sagged slightly, "I can't go back to the barracks yet."

"W –"

"Don't ask."

"You don't even know what I was gonna say!" Gintoki chastised and then sighed. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

Gintoki nodded and stood, the cut on his leg stinging a bit and he hesitated before picking up his bokken. He couldn't leave it behind, but he also didn't feel he needed it against Hijikata and having it on him could prove to be a trigger of some sort. Hijikata certainly wouldn't be at ease if he thought Gintoki would strike him down at any given moment.

"Oi," when Hijikata looked over after getting up, Gintoki tossed him the bokken, "carry this for me."

Hijikata's relief was palpable, but it warred with a side of him that wanted to give the bokken back. Gintoki understood the inclination, that want to give someone the power to end him if they needed to, but Gintoki would be having none of that. Hijikata meant too much to too many people, he wouldn't be taken down just because of a... furry little problem. He'd definitely be asking more later, but first thing was first, he needed to get them both some level of security. He also needed to figure out what the hell had even happened to his night because the whole thing just seemed like one big fucking mess.

They walked side by side toward the door and it was _weird_ that Hijikata was walking so their arms were brushing, but Gintoki didn't comment. He just wanted to get back to his apartment since that was where he'd decided to take Hijikata and figure things out from there. He wished the lighting hadn't been so dim and that he could have gotten a better look before Hijikata had changed back into himself. Maybe it was fucked up, but Gintoki wanted to have a better look at him, it wasn't everyday someone he knew was suddenly a werewolf.

Once they were outside and on their way, Gintoki said, "You know there's going to be a lot of dog jokes, right?"

Hijikata punched him.

It was good that some things, at least, hadn't changed.

To Be Continued


End file.
